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So you may have heard about a “March for Science” on Washington. This is a nationally organized protest scheduled for April 22, 2017 all around the country, but primarily in Washington, D.C. at the National Mall. Scientists nationwide are planning to make their voices heard on that day, which also happens to be Earth Day, to protest the current administration’s policies on the environment and scientific evidence. Whatever your politics may be, I think it is a wonderful thing that we can peacefully protest and make our passions known in this country without fear of reprisal. What in the world does this have to do with crochet, you might ask? Well, you may remember the recent Women’s March and its universally recognized symbol of the crocheted “Pink Pussy Hat”? Well we cannot leave the scientists out – the symbol being talked about for this march is the crochet Brain Beanie!

Pattern:Using pink yarn and H hook.Hat body:Row 1 – Magic ring, ch 2, 9 HDC in magic ring, pull tight, join to first HDC, ch 1. (9)Row 2 – 2 HDC in first stitch, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (18)Row 3 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (27)Row 4 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 2 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (36)Row 5 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 3 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (45)Row 6 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 4 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (54)Row 7 – HDC around, join to first HDC, ch 2. (54)Row 8 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 8 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (60)Row 9 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 9 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (66)Row 10 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 10 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (72)Row 11 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 11 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (78)Row 12 – 2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 12 stitches, repeat around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (84)Row 13-19 – HDC around, join to first HDC, ch 1. (84)Row 20- 22 – FPHDC in first stitch, BPHDC in next, repeat around, joint to first FPHDC, ch 1. (84)Row 23 – FPHDC in first stitch, BPHDC in next, repeat around, joint to first FPHDC, finish off. (84)Weave in ends.“Brain” tubing: (make 2)Chain 2.Row 1: 5 DC into 2nd ch from hook, join to first DC (5)Row 2: ch 2, DC into each DC around, join to first DC (5)Row 3 and up: repeat row 2 until you reach desired length. Finish off, leaving a VERY long tail for stitching to the beanie. Stitch the hole closed by gathering each loop of the 5 DC together and pulling tight.*I did not measure the final length or number of rows for my tubing, because it is based on your preference for how you want to wrap the tubes on the side of the hat and how tight you want to make it. My tubes were more than twice as long as the length of my arm, and I still ended up needing to make another smaller piece to fill in a hole that was bothering me!Attaching the tubing:I would recommend you loosely run a line of dark contrasting yarn down the very center of your beanie to divide your “brain” in half and use as a stitching guide. It can be very easy to get off center when you are dealing with very long pieces! You’ll notice that mine is a bit off center from not following my own advice!Pick a spot near the back of your hat, just above the brim and attach the yarn tubing. I ran the stitching INSIDE the tubing and poked it out where I wanted to attach it to make a small stitch, then ran it back inside the tubing to hide it. Randomly loop back and forth in rows and loops like the sulci on a human brain. One long tube should be attached only on the right side, and the other long tube should be attached only on the left side. The human brain is divided into halves, and they do not visibly cross, that is why there are two separate tubes! Once the entire tube is stitched down, weave the end into the inside of the beanie a few times to ensure it stays in place.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you love making your very own crochet brain beanie! You can help support CDM Handmade and ensure more great patterns in the future by sharing this post, making a purchase with my affiliate links (at no additional cost to you) or purchasing the convenient ad-free printable PDF of this pattern from my Etsy Store HERE. Happy hooking!

5 thoughts on “Crochet Brain Beanie – a FREE Pattern”

This is AWESOME! I have pinned. Would make a great addition to a Halloween costume, or gift for a science lover or teacher.
I am running a year long Granny-Spiration Challenge. If you have any granny inspired project, would love if you came and linked up with us 🙂 There’s also a yarn giveaway going on right now. It can be found here: http://eyeloveknots.blogspot.com/2017/02/chunky-like-preemie-granny-square.html

My Mum is a Lab Tech at a high school, I think this would be an awesome gift for her, especially when her prep rooms get so cold through the winter! I might need to make one for their Science Co-ordinator too! lol

First of all I love your sense of humor it tickled me. I wonder if my eyes roll in my head when I tell my son-in-law that knitting is different from crochet LOL I’m looking forward to doing your pattern. I just completed one pattern that work together fairly quickly but I would have preferred they have to have a rib on the edge as yours does. Another thing the pattern that I found the person suggested gluing it down and I just don’t think glue would hold on a knit cap that might get tossed in the washing machine and dryer. I’m looking forward to making it but I am dreading stitching down the brain tubing. I think it might be probably the most time-consuming of the entire project. If you have any other tips for making it go any easier please let me know. Anyway thank you so much for your beautiful mind and your beautiful pattern.

Thank you for your sweet comments Rita! I hope you’ll share your completed hat with me when you’re done! I agree that glue would not be my preference, but the stitching part wasn’t too bad. I would definitely recommend pinning first though, it’s more challenging to keep straight than I had anticipated!!!

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Do not sell my patterns or claim them as your own. You may make items to sell (on Etsy, at craft fairs or other venues) from my patterns but you must link back to the pattern on my blog and give credit to CDM Handmade for the pattern. You may to share my patterns on social media as long as you link back directly to my blog post with a link. No copy and paste of CDM Handmade patterns will be allowed under any circumstances.